Posted by: sarabbarnes

The world’s most popular male model is not only modeling men’s wear but is also modeling women’s wear. He is known for his androgyny, modeling for designers like Marc Jacobs and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Showing off his talent in both the women’s and men’s wear. Andrej is a chameleon of sorts pertaining to his talents. At the young age of only seventeen years old Andrej was trying to get by like every other high school student in Australia. He worked at a local McDonalds to earn some money and on what he thought was a regular day he was discovered by a talent scout that happened to run inside for a quick lunch.
Andrej has the body type to be ideal for both men and women fashion models. The ideal of having the same model for both lines made designers want him as their model. In this interview Juju Chang finds out about his modeling career and where he stood on his sexuality and his gender preference.
Andrej Pejic has a unique look and it does not concern me whether he is a man or woman or a transgender. In Juju Chang’s interview, I feel that she is questioning his gender preference more than anything, when she should be interviewing him as a successful model. It is amazing how well Pejic is making a name for himself in the modeling industry and it gives transgenders an opening to the fashion world.
Today, people want are interested in knowing what someone’s sexual preference is and/or their gender, and Pejic is one who does not want to be defined as one or the other, he just wants to be himself. Why do we care wherther some one is a man or woman? Why do we have to know whether they are this and that?
This brings me to thinking about how clothing is segregated into men’s and women’s sections. Is this just mainstream culture that is keeping gender this way? It would be interesting to see more lines that are unisex and play with the ideas of unknown gender.http://abcnews.go.com/Business/genderless-worlds-popular-male-model-walks-runways-heels/story?id=14522370#.TtaAXRzeBuUhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_Pejic

What really drew me into Low Pay, High Profile by Andrew Ross was the idea that Barney’s had to use their workers as models in their “Seven on seventeenth” show. Barney’s was financially in a bad situation therefore they needed a way to bring people’s attention to the store in hopes that sales would go up and they would also have the communities support. Stores sometimes do crazy things to get peoples attention and one that has a similar concept to Barney’s is Abercrombie and Fitch.
The other day, my teacher was talking about how annoying it was the other day because she was walking by Abercrombie and Fitch and there was a line around the block and she wondered, “Why are these people waiting in line to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch?” I also thought the same thing when she was telling us the story because the store is declining as a business, and their clothing aesthetic is out of style because it is the same thing from the store every season. Their oversized logos, typical polo, denim, and khaki style has gotten old for most people, so why the long line? Male models wearing barely any clothing. Abercrombie was using their workers, just like Barney’s, to model for them and letting the public take pictures and meet them. This gives the consumer the feeling of being a part of the brand because their are getting to met someone who models for them. The men were toned and had their shirts off and the women, and gay men were ecstatic to be in line to get a picture. Abercrombie was selling more sex and Barney’s was selling more to the idea that Barney’s specializes in men’s wear.
The concept that Barney’s and Abercrombie and Fitch have is smart in order to get consumers into a store. If the clothes are not selling then i guess the best thing to do is have your workers put on a show! Men and women were afterwards walking out with big bags of clothing which reveals that Abercrombie and Fitch are still around because of the sexual style of the campaigning. Barney’s workers were united with Barney’s and willing to do anything to keep the company afloat and they did just that. Ross points out that “. . .it is the workers who truly represent the company: “We are Barney’s! We are Barney’s!” ” which shows the amazing support a company can have from it’s workers. Would you support the company you worked for if they were having financial problems? Do you think it is right for a company to use their workers for campaign reasons?

As time goes on, fashion goes on, constantly evolving into a newer style, better quality, more affordability, easier access, etc. Today, society is constantly shopping, whether we are consciously or subconsciously realize we are doing it. We are surrounded by adds of the newer iPhone and iPad and think that we have to obtain these items because it’s newer, faster and more durable. You walk past a store on the street and see boots that would be perfect for the fall season, although you already have five pairs. The boots in the window are a different fit, made of nicer leather, and are something that you don’t have. We are in a consumer’s world in which it’s constantly changing and we are going along with it. “Not only is shopping melting into everything, but everything is melting into shopping” (p. 698). In “ . . .And Then There Was Shopping”, Sze Tsung Leong points out that public life is shopping, therefore making it inescapable.
While reading this essay, I was astonished by the fact that shops outnumber churches, hospitals, airports, libraries, and museums. Wherever one goes, there are a multitude of stores with something to buy that has been “reinvented, reformulated, and reshaped to keep up with the most subtle changes in society” (p. 699). Leong discusses how suburban shopping centers “transform significantly the physical makeup of a city” which I related to my hometown, Jackson, Tennessee (p. 700). While it is a pretty well populated city, there is one central shopping area, The Columns, in which everything you would need has developed in center. From gas to groceries, and clothing to restaurants, The Columns is the busiest part of my town. First built were Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and from there it flourished into a mainstream shopping center. The space is filled with signs and adds that attract consumers to come to their store and see what they have to offer.
The Columns is a prime example of how shopping centers have developed into an easily accessible shopping experience. The consumers go from one store to the other with ease. You can drive from one store to the next picking up the things you need and bypassing what you don’t need. The layout was specifically designed to fit as multiple stores in a small amount of space as possible so consumers can’t just go to one store without passing another that might have something they would want.
While shopping centers are a place I like to avoid because of the overcrowding and mainstream stores, it is nice to have everything, for the most part, close by to make getting the things you need or want leisurely. But, why do we feel we have to go into these stores and buy these things that we really don’t need? It makes one question why we give into a market that just wants us to buy, buy, and buy. And because shopping is constantly being reinvented, what is next? In the future, are actual stores going to close and all shopping will be done online?